US secretary of state James Baker says Saddam did not invade Kuwait to liberate Palestine. He is right. Nonetheless the attack on Iraq is also an attack on the Palestinians.
Dozens of UN resolutions, including by the Security Council, have denounced the Israeli annexation of the Occupied Territories where most Palestinians live. But those resolutions, unlike the resolutions against Saddam Hussein, remain a dead letter. They are a dead letter because the ability to act on any UN statement of worthy sentiment often depends on US acquiesence.
The attack on Iraq is a blow to Palestinian interests because a key aim of the exercise is to continue the relentless tilt in the region towards Israeli political and military power; and towards securing those reactionary Arab regimes who support the Palestinians verbally, but block any effective action of their behalf.
Few Palestinians will miss the parallel between the assault on Baghdad and the relentless bombing of Beirut in 1982, during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. A second Arab capital in a decade is under fire to serve the needs of imperialism.
The Palestinian intifada is in its third year. The Palestinians rose up, with 1000 dead in three years, because they had no choice but to fight for themselves. After paying lip service to the plight of the Palestinians during this crisis in deference to their Arab allies, the West will continue to ignore it as soon as the Gulf war is over. The Palestinian masses are wrong if they idolise Saddam; but they have identified their enemy correctly – not just the Israeli state and Zionism, but world imperialism as well.